


Taming the Dragonrider

by Reda



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Chi-Chi as a student of Roshi, Dragonriders, F/M, Villain Goku/Kakarot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:48:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23330398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reda/pseuds/Reda
Summary: The Saiyan Dragonriders have attacked Earth, sowing chaos and destruction everywhere they go. Chi-Chi stands as one of the Earth's mightiest protectors in this crises. But now an injured Saiyan is the prisoner of a group of Earthlings, and the students of the late Master Roshi have to decide what to do with him.
Relationships: Chi-Chi/Son Goku (Dragon Ball)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 44





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> GoChi Week 2020  
> Day 2 / March 26  
> Prompt: Villain Goku  
> Setting: Fantasy Dragonrider AU  
> Words: 1804  
> Author Notes: I’m a fan of dragonrider stories, most especially the Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffery. Always wanted to do something with DragonBall and the concept of dragonriders. Here. Have some sci-fi fantasy goodness. Note, this isn’t cute.

~!~ Taming the Dragonrider ~!~

“We should kill him,” Krillin said at the little round table. “We don’t know how strong these Saiyans are even  _ without _ their dragons.”

“I’m with Krillin,” Yamcha added, glancing around at the other occupants of the table. “Drugged and chained doesn’t mean he’s under control.”

Son Gohan, an old friend of her father’s who had come out of his forest life to help fight off the Saiyan threat, frowned and shook his head. “Not without giving him a chance.”

“That’s insane!” Krillin seethed. “What kind of chance are you going to give him? His kind already killed Master Roshi and who knows how many other innocent Earthlings! We can’t let this continue. The more of  _ them _ dead, the better.”

Son Gohan’s eyes dimmed at the reminder of the loss of their martial arts mentor, but he shook his head once more. “It won’t make us any better than them if we kill him without a chance. Need I refresh your memory? We caught him wounded in the woods, his dragon asleep, not in the midst of a battle.”

Beside him, Chi-Chi’s father nodded. “Killing without remorse should be reserved for the evil we’re fighting. Gohan’s right.”

All four of the men looked to her. She was the tie-breaker in this argument. Again. Chi-Chi sighed. She didn’t know what to do. She wasn’t the leader of the group or anything, but their makeshift council kept running into gridlocks and turning to her to form the majority opinion. She was sick and tired of having to make all the decisions around here.

But she had already made a decision, so once the men had been granted their chance to rant out their thoughts, she put forth her own. “Let me talk to him. I can’t condone killing him until I at least talk to him.” She tried a smile. “Maybe we’ll learn something.”

Krillin and Yamcha gave long, dramatic sighs, and sank back in their chairs. She could hear them mumble disagreements, but they wouldn’t put forth any other serious argument for now. The majority vote had been made. They wouldn’t kill the Saiyan.

She hoped she was making the right choice.

~!~

Kakarot opened his eyes to a dank makeshift cell. He grunted at the light streaming from the barred window, bars no doubt hastily put together. Something he could break easily. Just like the chains holding his arms out to either side as he sat in a puddle of his own piss and blood. He  _ could _ break them easily, if -

His stomach growled and he matched it with a grimace.

\- if he weren’t so damn hungry. And his brain weren’t so fucking muddled. He couldn’t reach out to his dragon, that little ball of consciousness in his mind. So who the fuck knew where that asshole lizard was off to now. Probably terrorizing a nearby village and eating his fill without any restraint. 

Heh.

Damn bastard taking all the fun. 

Since he couldn’t go anywhere, Kakarot took a moment to study his “cell.” (These Earthlings had no clue how to hold down someone of the Saiyan race, but he could give them marks for trying). It more or less looked like someone’s storage room, because of the grain bags and boxes of rice piled up around the edges. His mouth watered just at recognizing how close food was to him, and he groaned at the stomach growl punching its way through the dimly lit room.

Only one small window for the sunlight to reach him, but it was small and boarded up, as well as those metal bars he noticed earlier. The wooden planks of the room itself did a half-hearted job of keeping the sun out, too, so what could have been dark and terrifying for psychological torture, actually just left him feeling slightly miffed at the position and the gnawing hunger eating his insides.

His tail flicked up and then down as he blinked through the blood caked on one of his eyelids. Annoying shit, that. He couldn’t even really remember how he got separated from his flight - or what could have happened to his strangely silent dragon. Some fight had broken out, he was sure. Probably between him and Raditz. Maybe even a curse aimed at the princely flight leader, Vegeta, who had come to pass orders. 

Ah well, he’d be out of here soon enough. Just had to bide his time until the soft Earthlings gave him some food and restored his energy - and ran out of whatever drug was making his body hard to control.

Speak of the devil and he shall come.

The door to the pathetic storage opened and Kakarot smirked at the lovely little human lady that walked in with a frown. He sort of recognized her. From some battle, probably. She  _ was _ wearing some uniform that the fighters on this planet favored. Orange with a little symbol on the breast - and quite a nice breast she had too, if he did say so, quite a nice pair of them, actually. Her long black hair was pinned back behind her head, but he still scoffed at the idea of a fighter with long hair. Seemed like a useless weakness to give yourself. Even if it was lovely to stare at, since most Saiyan women didn’t own such long,  _ smooth _ hair. 

“You stare at me like you’ve never seen a woman before,” she said, crossing her arms beneath her breasts and standing right at the doorway. 

“None so ripe for the taking,” he purred.

To his shock, she blushed a little, like she didn’t expect the language coming from his mouth. Maybe his looks weren’t too shabby in this position - or maybe she had a kink for tying her men up. Pretty Saiyan-like of her, if that were the case. Maybe she’d be fun to toy with once he got free.

“I’m sure you wouldn’t be  _ that _ hard to fight off,” she said, voice surprisingly steady, eyes switching to a glare. “Especially without your dragon. You’re living on borrowed time. I suggest you ease up on the attitude.”

“Kah,” he scoffed. “Damn lizard will come looking for me soon enough. You’re the one living on borrowed time.”

Her smirk put him off guard. She didn’t appear worried in the least. Why the fuck not? 

“Your dragon won’t be coming for you.”

He growled from deep in his throat at the implication. “What have you done with him?”

“Not much,” she shrugged. “Let’s just say he’s taking a long nap.”

“Bitch.”

She spread her arms out, as if to accept the insult, but then she sighed. “Some of my people want to kill you.”

He tensed. What the fuck? Why did he tense? He wasn’t frightened of these pathetic humans. He was a Saiyan warrior. A Saiyan  _ dragonrider _ at that. He could command forces way above their understanding. He could -

She moved closer and sat down, as if teasing. And that’s what when he got a whiff of her smell. Sure, he’d seen her before on a battlefield, but he hadn’t been close enough to get her scent. It was an almost overpowering force of its own. She had a lot of power, of energy, built up within her. A lot of  _ ki _ mixed into that natural scent of sweat and a sweet flowery scent that wasn’t all too common among his kind and his wasteland of a home planet.

It nearly knocked him out from the shock alone.

And then she touched his face, wiping at the blood and dirt that was caked on the side of his face. “I think you hit your head.”

“It happens,” he growled, quieter, subdued. “Probably fell off my dragon.”

She pulled out a handkerchief from the front of her  _ gi _ and wiped at his face, cleaning it as best she could without a bucket of water. His heart rate sped up in his chest. He didn’t know how to react. Tossing a beautiful woman at him to clean his wounds and talk to him wasn’t exactly what he was expecting when he had woken up a prisoner. Hell, if Saiyans took prisoners, they weren’t nice in the least.

So why was she doing this? 

They had wrecked so much of her planet already. So many of her kind dead. They wanted to sell the planet to Freeza, but it had to be rid of its inhabitants first. Plus, there was something else here that Prince Vegeta wanted. Some kind of magical orbs. Granting wishes, all that nonsense. So they came and they searched and they killed indiscriminately.

Yet she  _ hadn’t _ killed him at the first opportunity. Why? He licked his lips, ready to ask the question on his mind, but something else came out instead.

“What’s your name?”

She pulled back, dark eyes wide as she stared back at him. And then she smiled and  _ for some fucking reason _ his heart lept into his throat at the look. “On this planet, it’s customary to give your name first if you want someone else’s.”

With a roll of his eyes. “It’s Kakarot. Now what’s yours?”

“Well, Kakarot,” she said, standing up and brushing her hair back from her shoulder, catching his eyes on her fingers, that soon went to her lips, tapping them as if because of a strange habit. “I suppose I won’t be killing you just yet. I’ll bring some food -”

\- he leaned forward as best he could at the word, and his stomach growled again into the room, but she smirked and shook her head. 

“-not a lot, mind you. I know how you Saiyans are weakened if you’re kept hungry. But I don’t want you dying.” Putting her handkerchief back in her  _ gi _ , she turned away. “I’ll see you in a few hours. Then we’ll talk some more.”

As she walked away he felt his heart yearning for her to stay. Weird, that. But another thought echoed in his mind and he scowled as he realized she was forgetting something. 

“Hey -”

Once she was at the doorway, she turned back. “My name’s Chi-Chi.”

“Chi-Chi,” he repeated, tasting it on his lips, finding it liked it. He was going to have her, then. His hormones were made up. And maybe something else. Maybe his mind, too. So he fought the strange feelings coursing in his chest and purred like the Saiyan predator he was supposed to be. “Don’t be a stranger.” 

Her return look was a mix of confusion and heat. Anger. Exasperation. Maybe pity? Whatever. She’d be back. She wouldn’t send someone else. 

He didn’t admit to himself that he’d be sad if she didn’t return. And as the minutes dragged into one hour after another, he most certainly didn’t admit the strangest thing of all - that he was already missing her scent. 

Missing  _ her _ .


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author Notes: Hi, yes, this is getting updated. So much world building going on in this. I’m sorry. I hope it’s not too hard to follow. Thanks to my re-reading of the Dragonriders of Pern series, I’m basically taking her dragon abilities and transferring that into the world of DragonBall, so, uh, easier if you’re familiar with that series at the very least.

~!~ Taming the Dragonrider: 2 ~!~

High above the land of the Earth, a large brown dragon winked into being at a short distance from a galactic carrier airship. The airship floated above the destruction that such dragons had already wrecked on the planet below; between the air force of the Saiyan dragonriders and the ground crew of the above average fighters, this planet wouldn’t take much longer to bend the knee to the Frieza Force. This new dragon in particular hovered for a few moments in the air and then glided toward one of the open hangers of the vast airship.

Bardock grimaced as Reeth practically slid along the open ramp deeper into the carrier ship. The wind of the world outside slowly dissipated, ruffling the red headband he wore on his forehead. With each step further into the hanger, the ramp closed that much further until Bardock and his dragon were left in the darkness of an open stall.

Not waiting for his eyes to adjust, he relied on his dragon’s sight for a moment in order to climb from the large reptilian’s back – and trusted in Reeth to lend him a forearm to help him down, of course. He did grunt at the lack of a welcome. Had Vegeta’s dragon not informed the prince of his arrival? He knew the prince could be lacking on certain customs, but that didn’t mean his dragon -

_No, Kuth knows. Kuth has informed his rider. I itch._

“Tch,” Bardock growled, though he patted at Reeth’s brown forearm affectionately. “You always itch.”

_This planet’s weather is not to my liking._

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll tend to you in a moment,” he grumbled. “First I need to find our lovely crown prince and discuss this news of Kakarot disappearing.”

If Kakarot wasn’t of his own lineage, he wouldn’t have had to come check up on things here. There were other matters to attend to on other planets. Not to mention the plot to rise up against Frieza in the works, though Bardock wasn’t _supposed_ to be privy to such knowledge because of his low-class status. Oh, but it rankled the King and the Prince how two of Bardock’s sons had Impressed a dragon. Beyond the frustration of having a low-class warrior such as himself riding a brown dragon, Kakarot had gone and Impressed a _queen_ dragon quite against all previous precedents. Queens were supposed to go to females, for one, and for another, that made four low-class Saiyans having Impressed dragons within two generations. If not for all that, Bardock wouldn’t give a shit about his sons – and he was pretty sure he had a few other children roaming about the galaxy anyway.

Kakarot, having Impressed a queen, was expected to act like any other queen rider and stay behind in the midst of planetary conquering. He was here on Earth for the explicit purpose of allowing the queen to mate with the fastest bronze dragon (notably, Vegeta’s Kuth) come mating flight time. There weren’t any other young queen dragons available, after all, and Kakarot’s dragon was expected to lay a good clutch of eggs, even if the _last_ clutch had been sorely absent of a queen egg, which they desperately _needed_ if they were going to keep the dragons from dying out.

And now he’d heard a rumor of Kakarot disappearing – with his dragon – in a battle! Outrageous! The Saiyan King was furious, and Bardock was sure the crown prince felt much the same. So here he was to hunt down his disobedient son. If those rumors were true, of course.

_Namarth comes._

Since Raditz was the rider for green Namarth, Bardock smirked. He’d go hunt down his other son first, then, instead of heading all the way to the prince’s chambers. Reeth could entertain himself in the vast open area of the airship designated for dragon roosts.

With a quick command for Reeth to find somewhere to relax for a while, Bardock asked for the direction of Namarth – and by extension, Raditz – and then made his way out of the airship’s hold. Several dragons slept in little mock caves along the edges of the open hold, and some of the smaller ones rested comfortably on the myriad of poles and wires. As he walked, tugging his brown leather gloves free to tuck into his riding belt, Bardock made a mental calculation of how many dragons were currently resting – and how many might be out razing the planet beneath them. While he had heard of some sort of resistance among the Earthlings, he didn’t expect it to take much longer to subdue the people, whether that meant willful surrender, enslaving, or outright killing. Whatever it took to prepare the planet for Frieza’s liking.

Eventually, thanks to Reeth’s careful directions, Bardock came across his oldest son in a small hanger. Green dragons were the smallest breed, as well as being the only other female dragon, though their clutches were few and far between even with their much more rampant sexual appetites. When he stood in front of Raditz at the edge of the hanger, Bardock could tell his son had just returned from a mating flight of his green Namarth. The dazed look in his eyes, a side-effect that would last a day or two after the flight experience itself, told him all he needed to know.

“Raditz,” he growled, hoping to snap some awareness into his useless son. “Where’s Kakarot? If he insists on fighting, he usually goes with your wing, doesn’t he?”

Brushing his green hued leather gloves through his hair, Raditz met his eyes and then waved his other hand through the air. “Idiot got shot down. Not like I care.”

So. The rumors _were_ true.

“You should care!” Bardock snapped. “He rides the only young queen left to us!”

“Tch,” Raditz drawled, walking past his sire without a care. “Namarth could repopulate dragonkind with enough time. We don’t need that dumb ass queen that tries to insist on being called a male.”

Feeling his anger rise, Bardock raised an arm and shoved his son into the metal wall, hearing the clasps of riding gear scraping along the metallic edge. With his arm over Raditz’s neck, he pressed in hard and met the dazed look with a glare. He didn’t care if Namarth had recently mated. His useless son should have stayed back in the bed of whoever rode the dragon who had caught her. This attitude was infuriating enough without having to deal with the crises to all dragonkind.

“I’d watch my words, Raditz,” he growled. “If the prince were to hear you bad-mouthing our one young queen, he might call a duel and rid us all of your worthless hide.”

Wheezing for air and groping at his father’s arm, Raditz managed to choke out. “Kakarot’s the useless one.”

Bardock rolled his eyes. “He managed to Impress a more important dragon than you did, at least.”

The glare sent back at him was enough to make him relax his grip. Good. So Raditz could snap back into his senses with enough insults to his pride. Whatever it took to get these worthless spawns of his to take this situation more seriously. He would never understand why the two of them got to Impress a dragon, even if some part of him was proud enough to be pissing off the elite Saiyan warriors.

Clearly, their mother hadn’t invoked enough discipline on them when they were still hugging onto her skirts. Then again, Gine had lost her own queen dragon in a disaster. So he couldn’t find too much fault with her. He just had to put up with the disobedient, tactless, careless antics of his two sons on his own.

“I guess the hunt for Kakarot is on then,” Raditz grumbled, rubbing at his neck. “Otherwise you wouldn’t be here ruining my day.”

Bardock gave a grin to show all his teeth, his tail wrapping around his waist. “And you’re going to help me find his ass.”

“Wonderful.”

He ignored the sarcasm. For now.

~!~

“Are you sure you don’t want one of us going in there with you, Chi-Chi?”

She shook her head at the question from Krillin. While it was nice to know the boys cared for her safety, she didn’t think it necessary. They still had plenty of the drug left to keep the Saiyan tame and docile for now. She had nothing to fear. Besides that, she felt pretty certain about the rumor of their tails being a weakness, and Kakarot tended to let his roam freely, especially in his near-constant drugged state.

“Thanks, Krillin, but I’ll be fine,” Chi-Chi said. “I’m a big, tough girl, remember?”

“Yeah, I know, I just worry, I guess,” Krillin muttered. “These guys are too scary to let our guards down.”

She chuckled. “I’ll scream if he breaks free. How’s that?”

Krillin laughed then shrugged. “Better than nothing.”

With a smile on her face, Chi-Chi opened the door to the storage room and waved to Krillin as she shut herself in with the “ruthless” Saiyan. Holding a tray with his food – and a needle ready to give another dose of the drug – she walked in with a slight bounce in her step. Unsure whether or not he was awake, she set the food down first on a box of unopened supplies, then took the needle in hand and moved to his side.

The Saiyan – no, Kakarot – shifted slightly at her presence and she forced her heartbeat to still when his gaze found hers in the dim lighting. That answered the previous question at least. He was awake. Not that he could do anything to her, tied up with his arms held above him by the only chains they could procure from the village. She had no doubt that he could break those easily if he had his full strength – she had suffered under a Saiyan’s beating before and knew their power was nothing to sneeze at – but as long as they kept him only moderately fed _and_ drugged, she had no reason to fear the worst.

The most he could do was smirk at her and let his tail flick to show his annoyance at his state. “Whatcha got there, babe?”

“It’s time for another dose,” Chi-Chi hummed, refusing to meet his eyes for a second time. “You might have been asleep the last time, but I promise it doesn’t hurt. Much.”

“Hm?”

His head tilted up as her hands moved to his arm. She brushed at the dirt coating his muscles, scoffing at the way her mind admired the sculpted look of his arms. Taking a, thankfully still damp, cleansing wipe from her orange _gi_ top, Chi-Chi dabbed at the dried blood and dirt until she found a spot worth cleaning more intensely. With a nice area clear, she shifted and pulled the needle in closer.

Almost immediately, Kakarot jerked away from her. Or tried to at least. She grabbed his arm before he could shake it or anything that would disrupt what she was trying to do. Pinning him down, she noticed his legs scraping at the floor, his body turning away, his tail fluffed up like a cat’s.

“Agh – no – get the needle away from me!” Kakarot spat. “I hate needles!”

Rolling her eyes, Chi-Chi ignored him and forced the drug into his system despite all his pleas to the contrary. He didn’t seem so much annoyed about the drug that could weaken him. In fact, with the way his arm trembled in her hold, he legitimately appeared to be terrified of needles.

Despite her intentions, she ended up patting his head and brushing fingers through his dirty wild hair. “Calm down. It’s over now. Nothing to be so afraid over. See?”

She held up the needle, empty of all its contents, and Kakarot flinched away, choking out his next words through a groan. “Put that thing away.”

When a visible shudder went through his body, Chi-Chi frowned and decided not to tease any further. “All right. I’ll put it up and bring you food.”

His stomach growled at the mere word and she laughed. While she got up to do as she said, Kakarot relaxed back against the wall, heaving a huge sigh as if in relief. She didn’t understand how such a member of a warrior race could be afraid of so common a thing. Ordinary humans were the ones afraid of needles or blood – not great Saiyan dragonriders.

Shaking her head, she set the tray of food down on the floor in front of him and then got on her knees, ready to get out of here and tend to more important business. Like planning a more robust defense of Earth. They were swiftly running out of options and ideas and needed to brainstorm something that could take the Saiyans by surprise.

But Kakarot’s tail wrapped around her wrist before she could get very far, and she frowned. “What?”

“Wait,” he muttered. “I, uh, it’s kind of a pain to eat with my hands tied like this.”

Lifting her eyebrows, Chi-Chi met his gaze, surprised even further to see him turn his head. “So? You’ve managed pretty well so far. I assume your tail lets you do a great many things when your hands are tied.”

He chuckled. “Oh you have no idea, sweetheart.”

“Then you’re staying like that,” she said, eyes narrowed as she pulled the tail off of her wrist and made to stand up again. “You can handle yourself.”

“Wait!” He called again and she sighed, turning back to him with what she hoped was an impatient air, though Kakarot kept glancing off to the side and...blushing? “I, uh, spilled the last stuff you gave me, remember? It’s not exactly _easy_ being delicate with my tail, so, I mean, you don’t have to untie me or anything. But you could -”

Chi-Chi crossed her arms. He didn’t continue speaking, but she had an idea of what he was trying to ask now. He wanted her to feed him. Since he couldn’t easily feed himself, he wanted her to be like a nurse or something. Did that kind of scenario get him off? Considering how often he purred sexual innuendos in her direction, she wouldn’t doubt it.

Then again, he _had_ dropped the last bowl of porridge all over himself last time. He wasn’t lying about that. She’d had to spend quite a bit of time cleaning it up the best she could – thankfully when he was fast asleep and impossible to wake up. So maybe is request wasn’t just for weird reasons. Maybe he was genuine.

On top of that, he had been _genuinely_ scared of the needle. She could almost pity him. But that was a bad road to travel. Opening herself up for disappointment and betrayal if she took it too far. Kakarot was a Saiyan dragonrider. Their enemy. She couldn’t forget that. But maybe…

With a smirk, she knelt directly in front of him and shoved her face up close to his, earning a gasp and a blink or two. “I’ll feed you _if_ you hand over some information about your kind’s plans here.”

Kakarot grunted. “Seriously?”

She nodded. “Do I look like I’m joking?”

He groaned and rolled his neck, his eyes dancing around the room before finally landing on her. “Promise me that my dragon is safe.”

“He is.”

“Fine,” he breathed. “We’re here to wipe the planet clear and sell it to Frieza. It’s what we do across the galaxy. Anyone who resists is killed and survivors are enslaved.”

Chi-Chi frowned. “Frieza. Who’s that?”

Kakarot smirked, his tail dancing up to wrap around her wrist and tug her a little closer so she could smell his breath. “Not telling. I gave you enough for one meal, don’tcha think?”

While a part of her wanted to keep arguing the point and drag it out for even more information about her enemies, she had to concede on this little bit. Getting information out of him had proved to be incredibly difficult. Honestly, it was surprising how quickly he’d given over even that small amount. All for the promise of being fed food so he wouldn’t spill it on himself.

Chi-Chi sighed, tugged the tail off of her wrist, and gave it a good squeeze before she let go. Kakarot tensed and sucked in a painful gasp of air, giving her proof of his little Saiyan weakness. Though his eyes glared with heat as he tucked his monkey appendage down and away from her grasp. She smirked, but at least she could feel like she’d won.

Even as she picked up a bowl of rice and prepared to feed him one slow spoonful at a time.


End file.
